Photograph by: JONATHAN HAYWARD
, THE CANADIAN PRESS

VANCOUVER - Two teams with a case of the January blahs met Wednesday night at Rogers Arena.

The Canucks still have theirs after falling 5-2 to the Chicago Blackhawks in a game that saw Vancouver blow a 2-0 second-period lead.

The Olympic break can't come fast enough for the Canucks, who unfortunately first must try and weather a five-game road trip that begins Friday night in Winnipeg and then makes stops in Detroit, Boston, Montreal and Toronto.

The Canucks don't play at home again until Feb. 26, which may be OK with some of their frustrated fans.

"We have to fight through this," winger Daniel Sedin said after the game. "We have to believe in what we are doing out there and start making plays. I think that is the main thing. When we get the puck, we are too passive, I think."

Tom Sestito gave the Canucks that 2-0 lead at 2:44 of the second period when he took a pass from defenceman Ryan Stanton and beat Chicago goalie Corey Crawford glove side with a shot from between the hash marks.

It was pretty much all downhill after that.

The Blackhawks, who entered the game with a 4-3-6 record this month, showed why they lead the NHL in goals this season. They beat Canucks goalie Roberto Luongo four times on five shots to take control of the game.

Marian Hossa started it with a power-play goal at the 6:30 mark of the second. Goals by Brandon Saad, Jonathan Toews and Patrick Sharp quickly followed.

It felt like the air had been sucked right out of the building.

"I loved our energy for most of the game," said interim coach Mike Sullivan. "(But) we lost ourselves in the second period. The team is discouraged, but it all starts with one shift. We have to get this going."

"With that team, really no lead is safe," added Vancouver winger Chris Higgins. "They scored all their goals in a short amount of time. It seemed like we were standing around. They were skating by us, they were winning pucks.

"You can't do that against that team. They have too much speed, too much skill. If you're not moving your feet with them, you're going to be in trouble."

The Canucks, now 4-8-2 this month, seem as fragile as glass. They continue to hang onto a playoff spot in the West, but if this road trip goes badly that could change.

Vancouver remains in eighth place in the West with 63 points and is three points clear of the Phoenix Coyotes, who have two games in hand.

"They are a good team," Luongo said of the Blackhawks "They haven't won a couple of Stanley Cups for no reason. It's disappointing being up 2-0 and losing the lead so quickly like that.

"For the majority of the game I thought we played well, but we had a little bit of a lapse and it was game over."

The Canucks could not have asked for a better start to the game. Higgins put a backhand past Crawford just 16 seconds into the first period. Higgins started the play with a hit on Blackhawks defenceman Brent Seabrook on the side boards that helped force a turnover.

The goal was Higgins' 15th of the season and third in his last four games.

The Canucks had that fast start and a nice finish to the period, when they peppered Crawford with a flurry of late shots. But in between it was all Blackhawks, who outshot Vancouver 13-8 in the opening 20 minutes.

Saad added an empty-net goal with 38 seconds remaining in the third period.

"Even when it was 3-2, 4-2, we didn't roll over and die," said Canucks winger Zack Kassian. "We had our chances to score, but it wasn't going in again."

The Blackhawks outshot the Canucks 40-31. Fourth-liner Brandon Bollig led the way with six shots, which was more than the four combined shots by Vancouver forwards Daniel Sedin and Alex Burrows.

ICE CHIPS: The Canucks played without defenceman Chris Tanev, who is out with a broken right thumb. Tanev is expected to be out through the Olympic break. . . The Blackhawks are now 12-0-6 versus the Pacific Division this season.

The Canucks started with a first-shift goal by Chris Higgins and then the beauty was over, although Tom Sestito did make it 2-0 Vancouver early in the second. The Canucks collapsed shortly after as Marian Hossa, Brandon Saad, Jonathan Toews and Patrick Sharp scored in a span of 7:41. The ’Hawks took it home from there, adding an empty-netter by Saad, to win their 33rd of the season ,while the Canucks lost their 19th in regulation. They finished their four-game homestand with a 1-3-0 record.

GOOD AND BAD

The Blackhawks snapped a four-game losing streak and finished their January with a 5-3-6 record ... Chicago has not a lost game in regulation against Pacific Division teams this season and improved to

12-0-5 ... The Canucks fell to 17-7-4 when scoring first and 13-5-1 when leading after one ... Canucks fourth-liner Tom Sestito snapped a 10-game goal drought with his second-period tally ... The Canucks’ sellout streak reached 461 games ... Ryan Kesler, Alex Edler, Ryan Stanton and Zack Kassian chipped in with single assists.

GREAT SCOTT

Hall of Fame defenceman Scott Niedermayer and captain of Canada’s 2010 gold-medal men’s hockey team dropped the ceremonial first puck Wednesday, accompanied by women’s gold medallist Tessa Bonhomme. Niedermayer, from Cranbrook, received a standing ovation from the Rogers Arena crowd. Prior to the puck drop, all the Sochi-bound players on the Canucks and Blackhawks were saluted.

LOOKING AHEAD

The Canucks have a practice scheduled for today before they fly off to Winnipeg to start a five-game road trip Friday that will see them play in Detroit, Boston, Montreal and Toronto. Friday’s game will be the first time the Canucks face the Jets under coach Paul Maurice. The Canucks’ Olympians will then head to Sochi, while the remaining players will head for a holiday. Practice for the non-Russia bound players resumes Feb. 20.

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